Legacy Recordings Set to Release I Saw the Light (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), the Album of Music from the Forthcoming Hank Williams Film Biography Directed by Marc Abraham and Starring Tom Hiddleston and Elizabeth Olsen

I Saw the Light (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Available Digitally on Friday, March 25 “I Saw the Light,” a Sony Picture Classics Film, Opening Nationwide Friday, April 1st

New York, NY – January 27, 2016 – Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, will release I Saw the Light (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) as a digital album on Friday, March 25.

The official album of music from the highly-anticipated Hank Williams film biography–directed by Marc Abraham and starring Tom Hiddleston (“Midnight in Paris,” “The Avengers”) as Hank Williams and Elizabeth Olsen (“Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Godzilla,” “Martha Marcy May Marlene”) as Audrey Williams–I Saw the Light (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) premieres several newly recorded interpretations of classic Hank Williams tracks, performed for the film by Tom Hiddleston and the Saddle Spring Boys; these new versions of Hank Williams songs include “Hey Good Lookin’,” “Move It On Over,” “Jambalaya,” “My Bucket’s Got a Hole In It,” “Why Don’t You Love Me,” and “Honky Tonkin’.”

I Saw the Light (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is produced by Rodney Crowell, G. Marq Roswell, Carter Little and Ray Kennedy. The album is Executive Produced by Marc Abraham, director/producer of “I Saw the Light” and author of the film’s screenplay, and Brett Ratner.

“I Saw the Light” is based on the book “Hank Williams: The Biography” by Colin Escott, and William (Bill) MacEwen. The film is slated for release in in New York, Los Angeles and Nashville on Friday, March 25 and nationwide on Friday, April 1st.

In preparation for his role as Hank Williams in “I Saw the Light,” Tom Hiddleston honed his singing and guitar skills working with country singer, executive music producer, and soundtrack album co-producer Rodney Crowell. “After nearly a month spent collaborating with this gifted artist, I’m as respectful of the man’s work ethic as I’m mystified by his transformational skills,” said Crowell. “Without a doubt, the filmmakers chose the right actor for the job.”

The film chronicles country music singer/songwriter/performer Hank Williams’ rise to fame, his personal and romantic trials, his conflicts and tribulations in a country music industry he helped define, and his sudden tragic death in the back of a limousine on his way to a gig on New Year’s Day 1953.

“I Saw the Light” follows the journey of the iconic, tormented singer-songwriter who revolutionized country music with his raw charisma, haunting voice and original songs, most of which are considered American standards today and have been recorded many times over by pop, rock and country artists alike.

Williams emerged from the local Alabama music scene after World War II. His wife Audrey, despite an inequity in their respective talents, was desperate to sing with her husband and had fierce ambitions of her own. Hank’s ability to write songs covering a wide range of emotions, using his own personal troubles as inspiration, became the essence of country music. In the end, he realized his dreams: hit records, a place on Nashville’s prestigious stage and radio show the Grand Ole Opry and even guest spots on the then-new medium of TV.

Refusing to hide his longtime alcoholism and dependency on pain killers behind the wholesome facade Nashville and the Opry expects of its stars, Hank remained prolific and immensely popular until the very end of his life. Like Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Kurt Cobain, Hank’s star burned brightly, but briefly over the six years before he died, at the age of 29.

Today, country is arguably the most popular music in America, and Hank Williams had much to do with that. The enduring quality of his character and his music earned him inductions into the Country Music Hall of Fame (1961), the Songwriters Hall of Fame (1970) and the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame (1987). Williams had 33 hit country singles during his life; 30 reached the Top Ten; eight hit Number One. Seven more Top Tens came after his death with three of these hitting Number One.